In some German journals they push the idea of a de-growth world as a modern utopia. Most of it does indeed sound very utopian.
They argument like in the 19th centuries 9 to 5 jobs would have been laughed at and mocked as utopian.
The articles I read were from German sources behind paywalls. I am not sure how widespread and popular the concept of de-growth is in the US. I assume it is more popular in Europe than in the US. I prefer to label sustainability as a way to create wealth and jobs.
I think one argument is the world has to make this change. There is either the collapse of the planet or less growth as option. It is unavoidable if we want to survive. Personally, I don't think humankind is rational. Humans tend to biases like prefering shortterm small pleasures in favor of bigger pleasures that lie far in the future. (hyperbolic discounting) And most people are hard-wired on capitalistic principles. People would prefer dying that way over changing their beloved habits. Or at least they don't care how their children will be doing.
Personally, I am no fan of it. But I think contributions to a circular/recycling economy goes in the right direction. They also argue that there has to happen a major redistribution to please the lower and middle class who had to abstain from their guilty pleasures (buying overseas, vacation by planes etc.) Personally, I would like to see major redistributions but I doubt that this will happen any time soon. Something that baffled me how much CO2 emissions the ultra rich are producing. I think the richest 10% are producing roundabout 50% of all CO2 emissions according to Oxfam. Moreover, the richest 1% is more producing twice as much as the poorest 50%.
They argument like in the 19th centuries 9 to 5 jobs would have been laughed at and mocked as utopian.
The articles I read were from German sources behind paywalls. I am not sure how widespread and popular the concept of de-growth is in the US. I assume it is more popular in Europe than in the US. I prefer to label sustainability as a way to create wealth and jobs.
I think one argument is the world has to make this change. There is either the collapse of the planet or less growth as option. It is unavoidable if we want to survive. Personally, I don't think humankind is rational. Humans tend to biases like prefering shortterm small pleasures in favor of bigger pleasures that lie far in the future. (hyperbolic discounting) And most people are hard-wired on capitalistic principles. People would prefer dying that way over changing their beloved habits. Or at least they don't care how their children will be doing.
Personally, I am no fan of it. But I think contributions to a circular/recycling economy goes in the right direction. They also argue that there has to happen a major redistribution to please the lower and middle class who had to abstain from their guilty pleasures (buying overseas, vacation by planes etc.) Personally, I would like to see major redistributions but I doubt that this will happen any time soon. Something that baffled me how much CO2 emissions the ultra rich are producing. I think the richest 10% are producing roundabout 50% of all CO2 emissions according to Oxfam. Moreover, the richest 1% is more producing twice as much as the poorest 50%.
